Thanks to Festival UK magazine for running this article in their December 2018 edition:

(UK) THE DECISION by 2000trees (cap. 10,000) to become a fully cashless festival, has seen bar revenues jump by 24 per cent, according to festival director Brendon Herbert. He told delegates at the Association of Independent Festival (AIF) Congress this autumn that he made the decision in spite of hesitancy in the festival market about the technology. Working with PlayPass, he installed a network of near-field communication (NFC) readers at 55 retail outlets, reducing average transaction times to under five seconds.

As well as the increase in bar takings, he said the festival saw improved customer experiences with less queuing, reduced lost cash and better security, which was also appreciated by the traders.

Festival-goers were encouraged to use the system by "imaginative" incentives such as drink packages and special offers, leading to 80 per cent of attendees pre-registering on the system, loading cash onto their festival "wallets" and receiving a wristband onsite which could pay for purchases.

When their balance ran low, they could opt for an auto-top up or visit an onsite top-up station to add more to their wallet.

"We spent a lot of time mak-ing the decision to go cashless and selecting the right partner," says Herbert. "The PlayPass sys-tem proved consistently robust throughout the festival. They helped us bring the audience on the journey with us from the moment they bought their tickets. The team on site were proactive and we've had overwhelmingly positive feedback from our audience, traders and staff”.

Headliners in 2018 included At The Drive-In, Enter Shikari, and Twin Atlantic. Tickets for 2019 cost £129.50, with the line-up yet to be announced.